The present invention is directed to air conditioners and, more particularly, to the assembly of window room air conditioning units.
Air conditioning units such as so-called "window room air conditioners" are commonly used for residential and similar applications and generally include closed refrigeration circuits having an evaporator and a condenser. The unit is normally divided by a partition into an evaporator section and a condenser section. The evaporator section communicating with the room air to be conditioned and the condenser section communicating with external air such as outdoor air. Refrigerant flows through a refrigerant circuit absorbing heat from the room air at the evaporator and discharging heat energy to the external air at the condenser. The conventional refrigeration circuit is completed by the addition of a compressor, an expansion device, and the appropriate connections between the components.
Such an air conditioning unit usually includes a basepan supporting all of the components and an outer housing surrounding the entire unit. The front of the evaporator, or indoor section, includes an indoor grille, which has openings therein for directing warm indoor air into the evaporator and discharge openings therein for directing air back into the room. The outdoor section of the housing includes a plurality of openings in the sides and top thereof, which serve as inlet openings for cooling air which flows into the outdoor section and outwardly therefrom after passing through the condenser coil, which is mounted vertically in the back of the outdoor section.
In addition to the components mentioned above, the outdoor section also typically includes an outdoor fan and fan shroud, as well as an electric motor, which typically also drives an indoor fan. The indoor section also typically includes the aforementioned indoor fan, an indoor fan orifice, a control box as well as a fan scroll structure for directing the air cooled by the evaporator back into the room to be cooled. Each of the aforementioned components requires means for attaching it to the basepan and/or other structure of the air conditioning unit. Numerous approaches are known for assembly of the components of such units. However, it is desirable to design a unit which may be assembled in a manner which will minimize the total number of individual components in the unit. The fewer components and the fewer number of attachment means results in lower material costs, less labor content and, accordingly, a less expensive unit.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/140,007 entitled "Window Room Air Conditioner" is directed to a room air conditioner of the type having an indoor section and an outdoor section, which are supported by a basepan and which are separated by a partition. The indoor section includes an indoor fan and an evaporator coil, and the outdoor section includes a condenser coil, an outdoor fan and a compressor. The '007 application comprises a first subassembly, which includes a basepan having an indoor region proximate the front of the basepan and an outdoor region proximate the back of the basepan. The first subassembly further includes a compressor supported in the outdoor region and a condenser coil supported in the outdoor region rearwardly of the compressor. An evaporator coil is supported in the indoor region and a refrigeration flow circuit connects the condenser coil, the evaporator coil, and the compressor. A second subassembly includes a vertically extending partition having an indoor side, an outside and an opening therethrough extending between the sides. The partition is configured to cooperate with the basepan when the first and second subassemblies are assembled to one another to separate the indoor region from the outdoor region. The second subassembly includes an electric motor mounted on the outdoor side of the partition. The motor has a drive shaft extending perpendicular to the partition with the first end extending through the opening so that it is on the indoor side of the partition and the second end on the outdoor side of the partition. An indoor fan is mounted to the first end of the drive shaft and an outdoor fan is mounted to the second end of the drive shaft.
The first and second subassemblies are each configured such that they may be assembled separate from one another and such that the second subassembly may be assembled to the first subassembly by positioning the second subassembly in a position vertically spaced above the first subassembly and, thereby lowered into a predetermined alignment with the first subassembly with the outdoor fan forward of and adjacent to the outdoor heat exchanger, and the indoor fan rearward of and spaced from the indoor heat exchanger and the partition engaging and attached to the basepan.